Retail technology year in review: 2014

Among the festive winners were Next, John Lewis and House of Fraser, which all posted some encouraging figures, but for Marks & Spencer (M&S), Morrisons, Debenhams and Mothercare – to name just four – it was a cautious start to 2014 after some sluggish trading compared to previous years.

Later in the month, the retail technology world descended on New York for NRF's Big Show. Setting the agenda for the solutions expected to be seen around the world in 2014, the annual tech showcase indicated that – after years of retailers grabbling to get their digital offerings up to speed with consumer requirements – future success is set to revolve around the store. In particular, success will rely on the extent to which new solutions are efficiently deployed in and combined with retailers' store portfolios, to provide a seamless shopping journey across channels.

Essential Retail will be attending the US show next month, reporting back on all the trends and predictions for 2015.

February

Noteworthy stories from February included the launch of the new M&S website, which replaced the retailer's previous offering that had been hosted on the Amazon platform. The high street mainstay unveiled a magazine-style site that was build to inspire its customers, but some regular shoppers were put off when they were made to re-register for an online account – and later in 2014 the retailer reported a surprising year-on-year sales decline in online sales as the new portal bedded down.

The European retail industry descended on London's Earls Court in March to visit Europe's largest end-to-end retail solutions show, RBTE. At the event, a record number of visitors were able to hear from some of the top names in retail – including Charles Tyrwhitt founder Nick Wheeler, Carphone Warehouse CEO Andrew Harrison and Boohoo.com chairman Peter Williams – and to visit more than 300 exhibitors showcasing the latest tech solutions transforming retail.

It has been a theme of the last 12 months for the larger retail players to invest in innovation and work more closely with smaller businesses to try and create an agile technology environment that allows them to react quickly to fast-changing consumer trends. The winner of the inaugural JLAB, announced in September, was micro-location technology company Localz, which won a £100,000 investment from John Lewis after a 12-week competition and mentoring programme.

He suggested that retail marketing teams will soon be full of PhDs and he argued that retailers will know what customers want before the customer has even placed an order – thanks to the growing digital footprint shoppers now leave behind on their respective purchase journeys.

US-based retailer Staples, which has stores around the world, also opened an eCommerce development centre, which provides the company with a dedicated hub for exploring new technology and how it is impacting the way people conduct their lives and want to shop.

Clarke had overseen a turbulent period in Tesco's history, but worse was to come in the lead-up to Lewis's arrival as the company had to reveal to the City that profit estimates had been overestimated to the tune of a quarter of a billion pounds. Since the revelation a number of senior directors have been dismissed and the Serious Fraud Office has been called in to investigate the situation in full. Watch this space for further details.

While wider adoption of Bitcoin and the like may be some way off for the retail industry, comments from Asda in the summer showed that the burgeoning new service of ordering online & collect in-store has the potential to grow exponentially as a percentage of sales over the next few years. Click & collect is certainly being looked at as an option by the wider retail community, following noteworthy success within grocery market, department store and online fashion circles.

September

If you were to take a tally of the UK's large and medium-sized retailers, chances are that international expansion would feature highly on their plans for the months ahead.

On a further US note – but one that will ultimately impact the European market in 2015 – Apple launched its mobile payment service ApplePay as part of its iPhone 6 unveiling. Mobile payments have the potential to have a significant influence on the way consumers buy their shopping in the coming years, and the move by Apple is expected to set the wheels in motion for more m-payment services around the world.

October

As the 2014 nights started to draw in, eBay and PayPal announced that they were to demerge, with eBay president and CEO John Donahoe saying the two businesses "will be sharper and stronger, and more focused and competitive as leading, standalone companies in their respective markets".

The decision represents the growing acceptance of this form of payment and the wider use of the NFC technology behind it to pay for travel, particularly across London's transport networks. The maximum contactless payment is set to edge up to £30 in 2015, as consumers become more comfortable with frictionless transactions.

Ahead of the launch of Sainsbury's dramatic World War I Christmas Truce advert for 2014, King also slammed other retailers for launching their festive campaigns too early and for creating marketing campaigns that do not offer a clear indication of the brand they are supposed to represent.

It prompted a record spike in sales at some retailers, but it also caused websites to crash and backlogs in online order deliveries, while the longer lasting consequences of driving down sales before such a critical time of year are yet to become clear.

Rounding off the year, last week saw online fashion retailer My-Wardrobe sell its assets to Net-a-Porter following a tough few years of trading. The business will continue to sell items from its store in Bayswater until stock is cleared, but the closure of the online company is a stark reminder to all retailers that despite the exciting opportunities ahead – driven by eCommerce and new technology – the economy is still fragile. Well-thought-out multichannel strategies are required to triumph in an increasingly competitive landscape.

What were your retail highlights of 2014? Please feel free to respond below or tweet us @EssRetail.